More snow

[altivo]

We got about six inches of heavy snow. Seems to have stopped now, but I anticipate another flooding episode when it all melts at once. People had already forgotten how to drive, and there were cars off the road or crashing into each other all over the place.

Today was supposed to be a boycott or strike against LJ because of recent policy changes. While I agree that the policy changes are not the brightest in the world, they are nowhere near as bad as those made by SixApart while they were in charge. However, folks, refusing to write in your journal for a day has absolutely no effect on the Russian overlords of LJ. They couldn't care less. Refusing to click on their advertisements, now, might have a little more effect. Running an adblocker program so you don't even see the advertisements is even better.

Fussing about a policy change that prohibits "free" journals for future users is about as effective as fussing about increases in postage or gasoline prices. The only effective thing to be done is to quit entirely. Send your letters by fax or e-mail, buy an electric car or a bicycle, or take mass transit. Move to another blogging site, or start your own.

I stopped paying money to LJ while SixApart was running the show. I won't be starting again, because the new management is no better, just different. I believe they will make the same mistakes that most management makes when its primary motivation is short term profit, the same mistakes that bankrupted Woolworth, Kresge, K-Mart, Wards, and Sears in the US. It's only a matter of time, and they will be looking for someone else to buy this unprofitable venture. Or they will be simply shutting it down, folks. So have your escape hatch ready.

Comments

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

See, it's not about the policy changes! It's about their lack of communication with us, the users.. and igoring the advice of those whom have been involved with LJ from the beginning; AND then 'sneaking' the change in with a single condescending sentence declaring that the change was to 'remove confusion'.... all the while touting a position of "wanting to hear constructive criticism from the community" and turning around and calling us "terrorists" for giving it to them.

We're not protesting the change.. we're protesting their attitude.

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

Also, to clarify (because I re-read your post and understood it a bit better. ;)

The strike wasn't about strongarming them. It was a simple reminder that we *have* the option of not producing content for the site. We love this place, but don't want to be shuffled under the carpet when we're inconvenient. :)

[alaskawolf.livejournal.com]

darn those postal and gas prices :(heating fuel is close to $4 a gallon now and there is still more months to go in winter

Enough Snow Already!

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider.

Seems we got even more with drifts two feet deep. Bear is, at this very moment, up early out snowblowing the driveway so he can get to work. I have never liked snow because it is heavy and cold and wet and a lot of hard work, dangerous and, well then I did live in Alaska for over 30 years and now in SW Michigan. Must be a glutton for punishment. ;)

Dunno much about LJ I never read that stuff or the ads. Just reply to friends, mostly.

Imperator waiting for his wings to thaw (shakes hard)

[schnee.livejournal.com]

It was not about hurting them, though. It was a symbolic action, intended to make it clear that LJ-the-company and LJ-the-userbase are in a symbiotic relationship and that one side cannot just ignore the other.

For me at least, it's also not about the removal of basic accounts (and the fact that the top interests were censored again) but also about the continued lies; every time something like this happens, it's not announced anywhere and instead introduced in a sneaky way, and yet afterwards, every time, we get something like "we're sorry, we've heard you loud and clear, we'll do better next time". Quousque tandem?

I don't think symbolic actions are meaningless. If things start going bad in your company, the workers might well decide to go on a one-day warning strike, too, instead of just quitting outright.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I wholeheartedly endorse this comment or post. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And I still think that the move is much too subtle to have any impact at all on the people whose attention you want to get.

My observation from experience, too many years of experience, is that people in such positions are so far removed from reality that nothing wakes them up at all. You can't reason with them, you can't threaten them, you can't even get anywhere by holding a gun directly to their heads. The "reality" they perceive is a delusion that has such power over them nothing will shake their ideas.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

But you see, they don't perceive you as a "customer." Even if you are paying for your account, the money they get from you isn't enough. They've looked at their little spreadsheet and decided that you are a parasite, plain and simple.

Because of the way the system is controlled, they hold all the power, or at least believe they do. Therefore they have no need to communicate with the users. They believe they can do whatever they choose, whatever they think is expedient. What they say and what they do have little or no connection between them, and never will. This is the very heart of unregulated capitalism, and especially for the Russians, it's a powerful drug. American corporations, at least the successful ones, have learned to temper their actions a little, but that lesson hasn't been reached yet over there.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Symbolic actions are wasted unless they communicate effectively. In this case, the target people are deaf and blind to the meaning and implications.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Time to start burning a few politicians to keep warm, I'd say.

Re: Enough Snow Already!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I imagine there was a lot more in areas that get lake effect, like yours. Lake County here got almost twice what we did.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

May well be; I can't say. But it's worth a try, I think - before you put a (metaphorical) gun to someone's head and pull the trigger, you should probably still try to get their attention in other, less serious ways.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* I'm not convinced that that's really the case (yet), though.

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

I agree wholeheartedly! :)

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

Which is why it's important for us to do what we can to make them realize we're not just numbers on a spreadsheet. :)

It's the 1 degree rule.. a single degree *now* can make for a major course change later on. :)

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

More snow?

I heard you guys got more down there. Places to the south west of us got more too. I think we escaped this time.

So far, we've got about three times the amount of snow as last year.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying that no action should be taken. I'm just saying that a "strike" is meaningless in the context. It doesn't put any real pressure on anyone.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I think that's about right for here too. Triple the amount we had last year would just about do it. New England has really had it bad.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If a few thousand paid subscribers were to cancel their paid accounts, THAT would get these guys' attention.

I just don't think they perceive the content of LJ as anything that crucial, so not writing for a day is a "so what" issue for them. They view the whole site as a commodity, like Myspace or OKCupid, where there's no shortage of potential suckers and losing a few complainers is irrelevant.

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

Not significant pressure, I agree. But,,, that wasn't the point.
It was a simple attention-grab to remind them that we matter. Not cripple their business. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And I think they're not likely to even take notice of it. Like a mosquito biting an elephant.

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

Perhaps.
But at least I *tried.
Effective or not, at least my energy went somewhere important!

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

The official weather station here, Metro Airport (west and a little south of the city), reports about 1.5 times the normal amount of snow has fallen here this season (67" instead of 40"). But they got more snow out of yesterday's storm because of the track. The more north and east you were, the less there was. It looks like I got about 4 inches. And it's all melting now too, because it's sunny and the snow was pretty wet to begin with.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're on flood watch here again.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Woolworths and K-Mart are still doing quite well here ;P

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I never paid so I have no paw to stand on when it comes to complaining.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Woolworth closed down completely in the US years ago. K-Mart went through a bankruptcy and came out worse than ever, then took over Sears and killed what was left of it too. There are still K-Mart stores but they're hardly worth going near. I predict a lingering death for them.

The problem is management that works strictly by numbers. They don't understand merchandising at all. If you sell an electric drill, for instance, you have to sell the drill bits to fit it. If it is cordless and uses rechargeable batteries, you have to carry the batteries. But no. They don't make enough money on drill bits, so they want to just sell the drill. Keep that up and people go elsewhere to shop. It's that simple.

Sears used to be noted for their tools. But someone did an analysis and found that 80% of the shoppers in Sears stores were women. So they moved all the tool departments away from the doors and buried them in the basement or on the top floor. Then men who wanted to get to the tools had to wade through two floors of lingerie, perfume, and ladies' shoes. They stayed away and bought there stuff somewhere else. Just stupid, but that's the way big companies are managed now.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I've heard of clawless cats but never pawless. Sounds pretty weird.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

It usually involves silly kitties and circular saws.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Its weird, Woolworths (with an s so I'm not sure if its the same) only sells groceries, its the main rival to Coles supermarkets.

When did this happen to Sears I remember when they used to be well known for their tools. Bunnings is the king for Hardware here, they're kind of like wallmart but they don't really sell much in the way of homewares and groceries.

http://www.bunnings.com.au/default.aspx

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's been a few years since the Sears fiasco too. All of it is just very poor management at high levels. Those idiots who go along jetting about the country in their private jets and taking home huge salaries while they run a corporation into the ground.

F. W. Woolworth, or Woolworth's, either way, here in the US was always a variety store, sometimes called a "five and dime" or "dime store" (though goodness knows they hadn't sold things for a dime in probably a hundred years.) They didn't change fast enough to compete with the mass merchandise stores like WalMart, and that's really what did them in. Woolworth stores were often located in the central area of town, where space was more expensive and expansion wasn't possible. Many still had the look of the 1920s about them: ceiling fans, hardwood floors, lunch counters. They were wonderful time capsules, actually. But they are all gone now. :(

Woolworth's biggest competitor here, S.S. Kresge, spun out a branch of mass merchandise stores called KMart. The old Kresge stores are all gone, but KMart survives by a thread. Utter mismanagement of their merchandise lines and store locations nearly put them under as well, and they went through a bankruptcy but survived. Then when Sears got into trouble, they bought up the Sears name and most of the stores. They are operating under both names now and not doing well with either because they still haven't learned the merchandising lessons that their original owners knew so well a century ago. Yuppies are stupid and slow to learn, I guess.

Sears' big competitor was Montgomery Ward, and they are completely gone now, bankrupt as well and folded.

WalMart rules the US now. It's very sad. Second rate cheap stuff brought in from China, part time employees who are worked to the bone and paid nothing, union busting tactics left and right. But they get away with it because they've run all their competitors out of business through price cutting, and it's literally true that in much of the US now there is no other place to buy things without driving a hundred miles. They are in a position to actually shape US culture and they are doing it. If WalMart stops selling a particular line of merchandise, to many people that just means you can't get it any more. The one I am currently aware of that is undergoing this change is fabric and sewing notions. The specialized dry goods dealers have been pushed out by WalMart in all but the largest towns. Now WalMart seems to be closing its dry goods departments because they aren't profitable enough. People who want to sew garments themselves are being reduced to mail order in order to obtain the materials. It's like a return to the 1800s.